Drouth Survivors was painted by Alexandre Hogue in 1936 as his third painting in his series on wind erosion (Figure 1). Following Drouth Stricken Area (1934) and Wind Erosion (1935), Hogue painted Drouth Survivors as a harsh reminder of the devastation caused by the drought during the Dust Bowl. In this painting, Hogue has placed the viewer at the scene of the crime, forcing them to confront the devastation ahead. This is Hogue's second painting known to portray the effects of the drought on wild or domesticated animals. The first, Jacks (1934/35), was exhibited at the Alice Street Carnival in Dallas in June 1935 and was only recently rediscovered after being in a private collection for decades. Figure 1. Alexandre Hogue, Drouth Survivors, 1936, Oil on canvas, Musée de la cooperation franco-américan, Blérancourt, France. The first mention of this painting was in a letter to Mrs. Frank Logan on November 6, 1936 (Figure 2). Hogue explained his vision for his series of paintings on the drought, listing Drouth Survivors as third in the series. He went on the write “Drouth Survivors has just been completed.” Figure 2. Alexandre Hogue, letter from Alexandre Hogue to Mrs. Frank Logan, November 6, 1936. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Reel No. 1482. For the next two years, Drouth Survivors was widely exhibited throughout American museums in both Chicago and New York. In 1938, the painting was purchased by the Musée du Jeu de Paume in Paris. An article from the Museum of Modern Art published the announcement and included the date 1936 as the date of completion (Figure 3). Figure 3. Article, Museum of Modern Art, 1938. A recommendation letter to Alexandre Hogue from Mr. Goodyear on November 22, 1938 further explained the purchase of Drouth Survivors (Figure 4). Goodyear explained the painting was included in an exhibit titled “Three Centuries of Art in the United States” at the Jeu de Paume, arranged by the Modern Museum of Art in the summer of 1938. He then went on to write the painting was “selected for purchase by the Director of the Museum of the Jeu de Paume, to be included in its permanent collection.” Figure 4. Alexandre Hogue, letter from Goodyear to the Guggenheim Foundation, November 2, 1938. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Reel No. 1481. In 1947, Drouth Survivors was burned in a warehouse fire after an exhibition at the Tate Gallery in London. Hogue did not learn about the fire until 1948. In a letter to Galtier Freres, Hogue wrote, “The loss of my painting from so vital a collection as that of the Jeu de Paume is a great blow to me. It means that I am no longer represented in one of the world’s greatest collections” (Figure 5). Figure 5. Alexandre Hogue, letter from Alexandre Hogue to Galtier Freres, April 24, 1948. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Reel No. 1481. An article from Tulsa Daily World in 1948 announced Hogue’s decision to replace Drouth Survivors with Oil in the Sandhills (1944). Hogue chose to give his painting to the Musee National d’Art Moderne in Paris instead of the Jeu de Paume because collections of contemporary work by foreign artists were now being exhibited at the modern museum (Figure 6). Figure 6. Alexandre Hogue, “Painting by Tulsa Artist Shown in Paris Museum,” Tulsa Daily World, 1948. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Reel No. 1481. On August 19, 1952, six years after his painting was destroyed, Darthea Speyer wrote to tell Hogue his painting was “completely ruined and beyond repair” (Figure 7). Figure 7. Alexandre Hogue, letter from Darthea Speyer to Alexandre Hogue, August 19, 1952. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Reel No. 1481. In a letter to Maurice deVinna on February 19, 1962, Hogue explained the burning of his painting was ironic considering how people had wanted to buy his painting a few years earlier to burn at the stake. Many Texans saw this painting as a threat to the business interests and economy of the state. Hogue went on to say those who wished his painting to burn should not celebrate yet because he intended “to repaint the picture some day” (Figure 8). Figure 8. Alexandre Hogue, letter from Alexandre Hogue to Maurice deVinna, February 19, 1962. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Reel No. 1481. Hogue repainted Drouth Survivors in 1984. In the catalog from the 2014 DMA exhibition, Alexandre Hogue: The Erosion Series, Sue Canterbury explained the long history Drouth Survivors and Hogue’s decision to repaint the work almost fifty years later. Canterbury also explained the original Drouth Survivors was not fully destroyed in the fire of 1947. In 1974, the original painting was able to be fully restored and became a part of the national collections of France. The painting had been burned in the corner and was considered fragile but not past the point of restoration (Figure 9). Figure 9. Pre-treatment photograph of Drouth Survivors, 1936. Canterbury wrote when Jean-Hubert Martin, curator of the Musée National d’Art Modern, came across Drouth Survivors in 1971, he sent the painting to the museum’s conservation department with the hope of restoration. After two stages of treatment and due to new conservation techniques available in the 1970’s, the painting was able to be saved. In the book, Alexandre Hogue: An American Visionary (Texas A&M University Press, 2011), there is no mention of the original Drouth Survivors surviving the fire. This lack of information is due to the fact Hogue did not know his painting survived and retold the tale of how it was totally destroyed in many interviews. Hogue was never contacted about the restoration of his painting by the Musée National d’Art Modern. Jean-Hubert Martin admitted he had not known the artist was still alive and later deeply regretting not informing Hogue of the restoration. Without the knowledge of his saved painting, Hogue repainted Drouth Survivors in 1984 from a black and white photograph that has been taken of the 1936 original for Life Magazine. He claimed he remembered the colors vividly and worked on the painting day and night to complete it in time for his retrospective at the Philbrook Museum of Art in 1984 (Figure 10). Through his repainted version, Hogue did an incredible job capturing the same devastation and confrontation of his original. Figure 10. Drouth Survivors, 1936, Musée de la cooperation franco-américan alongside Drouth Survivors, 1984, Linda and William Reaves Collection. Variations are seen when comparing the two versions. Hogue’s 1984 Drouth Survivors has a bolder color palette, giving the appearance of a stronger sun and greater heat. Sue Canterbury wrote the 1984 version “still expresses the tragedy but better succeeds in evoking the sense of searing heat and the optical realities attended by the loss of contrast and the sharpness of forms caused by intense light - direct and reflected.” Repainting the work allowed Hogue to reimagine the colors of the scene and create a more striking and confrontational image. Despite never knowing his original survived, Hogue probably experienced closure knowing his 1984 Drouth Survivors and his concern for the balance between man and nature portrayed in the painting would live on. Russell Tether, President Katherine Hillman, Associate Russell Tether Fine Arts Associates, LLC
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